Today the Spring Monsoon Began

I got a call at work from my hubby, in a panic, because as he walked out the door to leave today he realized that our courtyard was flooded nearly into our house. He would have had to swim to his car to leave. We have a sump pump set in a hole in the corner of our courtyard because flooding happens frequently; we have a big creek just a few feet from the back of our house, it's inevitable. Unfortunately the sump pump wasn't getting the water out as fast as it was coming in. In the picture below, you can see my hubby standing over the sump pump corner, on top of our wall, with a rental pump to supplement our own in the hopes that we wouldn't have to file our first flood claim within a year of living in our new home. Joy!



Below you can see him, standing fetlock-deep in our "pool" (as the kids are calling it) and plugging in the new pump. The most hilarious part of this picture, besides the electric shock potential, is the yellow kitchen glove he was wearing a la Michael Jackson.



Thankfully the rented pump worked just fine, if a little slowly, and we were able to get our own pump unclogged when the water drained down far enough for us to reach it without diving equipment. Among other things, there were pieces of plastic bag wrapped around it! As of right now the rain has resumed its deluge and there's no standing water in our courtyard. Much to our children's dismay.

I looked for my pictures of my crape myrtle from this past summer. I've been telling you how much I cut off it. Well I couldn't find anything except this one picture (below) of it from this winter. You really can't tell how bushy & overgrown it is from this picture so that's disappointing. It looks to me like whomever lived here in the past like crape myrtle shrubs and they must have trimmed them as such every year. They were so bushy & thick they were a hazard. You couldn't see around this one when you were pulling out of the driveway.




Well I love them, they are the prettiest TREES! I hate to see them trimmed like shrubs, it breaks my heart. They have this magnificent mottled bark and they grow in elegant shapes with arching plumes of leaves & flowers. So I pruned the Hell outta' them in early March before they had any leaf buds. We only trimmed two of my three, in case I accidentally killed them with the drastic cutting. But apparently they're just fine! Next year they will be thinned out even more, now that I know they won't croak from it. This one here by the mailbox is a bright vibrant pink when it blooms. It's like a fluorescent pink torch at the end of my driveway. I adore it. The other one (that's not shown) is a muted dusky pink that's not nearly as flamboyant.



I love my yard! I am hoping there's a few times this weekend when the rain dries up so I can try to get some more gardening done. Other than that, and making cookies @ Gramma's house sometime tomorrow, we've got no plans - and that feels GOOD!